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Monday, June 3, 2013

The Colossal Task of Final Justice

I have been thinking a crazy thought. It may be a dangerous thought, or it may be the thought of a fool. I have been both of those things in my life more times than I would like to admit. I really need the input of other voices on this to flesh it out in my mind, so if this means anything to anyone who may read it, humor me and give me your gut response to what I am saying.
I have believed for some time that in the end of this creation, human history, world, however you would prefer to say it, that God will make all things right. Let me specify what I mean by that. When we sin toward another person we have wronged God. I don't fully understand that, but David says that in his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah he has sinned against God and God alone. I have a feeling that Uriah would have disagreed were he able to voice his opinion. Nevertheless, my view does not carry much weight when it disagrees with Scripture. As a second witness to my point, Joseph, when seduced by Potiphar's wife, replies first that his master has trusted him with everything but his wife, and then with the response, "How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Once again, I would say that the sin would ultimately be against God...but it would in a very real sense be against Potiphar.
On to the crazy thought. Will God, in the end, during the process of judgement, recompense in some way those who were wronged by another in this brief life. Or, is it possible that we will all look around and recognize that we were wronged by many, and many were wronged by us. Will it be a moment of recognition for humanity in which we all fall in submission to God and one another (not in worship to one another, but in submission based on the realization of the forgiveness we need to receive from others.)
An example: Ted murders Al in a fit of rage. He is tried and found guilty by the courts and sentenced to life in prison. While in prison Ted encounters the truth of the gospel and accepts Christ. He has passed from death to life. He now has an eternity with God in his future, though his life will be spent behind bars. His sins are forgiven based on the work of Jesus. However, his sin robbed Al of life, and thus the break in relationship between Al and Ted is irreparable. To go one step further, let's say Al was not a believer. Ted robbed Al not only of life, but potentially of a future opportunity to accept the same gift he accepted in prison. Can God make this right? Does God need to? What manner of justice would be necessary to make up to Al for the sin of Ted?

4 comments:

First off - that is deep. Second...how do you wrestle with these huge questions and not have massive doubts? Your questions are impressive...and so hard to wrap the mind around. And so hard to answer. In all honesty, questions like this raise doubts for me...at least in some small part. How do you keep your strong faith in the face of these un-answerable questions? I feel like, over time, mine gets weaker in some ways the more of these questions I am exposed to. But at the same time...the questions were always out there...

I always appreciated this about you...I remember you used to bring up these types of things in small group. We miss you guys!

I would like to say that I do not struggle with doubts. I definitely do doubt a great many things about my faith. However I do not doubt the one in whom I have faith. Many things I have believed about the faith have fallen by the wayside over the years. I have cast them aside when they did not stand up to scrutiny, or they did not fit with the character of the Father and the Son. But overall, in the midst of the doubts I hold tightly to the truth of God as revealed through his Son. Good to hear from you. I hope all is well with the two of you.